Little Sova

I have not slept good in 4 days...the feeling is the same feeling that I felt the night I got engaged to Mike and after finding out that I was pregnant w/ both of the boys. It's a rush of excitement that leaves my brain spinning. Why this exciement? Let me explain...
The last few months we were checking out various adoption agencies and getting pretty discouraged because almost all of them have a parent age requirement for India of 30 yrs. This is probrably the one and only time that I was mad that I was young. We called many agencies and asked if they give any exceptions - apparently not- we got shot down by every agency except one. They said if we would be open to a special needs child or child over 6 yrs. they would consider us on a case by case basis. We were OK with this so we stated our "case" (married 6 yrs, have 2 kids, open to older child or certain special needs, and we plan on one-day be living in India.) I also mentioned that we would be open to the children in the email that the coordinator sent me (10 pics of children nedding homes fast.) She asked which ones and I gave her their names. They were all healthy 3 year olds so I knew that there was no chance in that, but just wanted to beef up our case. I was told that our "case" would be sent to India and we would hear back in 3 days! Well you can say that we spent ALOT of time praying for India to have Favor upon us- as did some of our family (thanks ladies!)- and it just so happened that the exact time that my cousins and aunts were praying for the adoption at their prayer meeting I got an email- a day early from India- Not Only giving us an exception but Acceptance on adopting one of the healthy little 3 yr olds! They sent us her pictures and records including her personality, and medical records. I was shocked. This does not happen in adoption process', couples wait a year for a healthy child referal, and not to mention if your under 30 you dont get one! We had a day to get back to them but like Mike said, "What's there to think about?" We accepted little "Sova" and she is on TEMPORARY Hold for us until we send in the initial fee of $4,250. Once that money is in we can sign papers for our Oficial acceptance of her. What comes next is a long process of alot of fees and even more paperwork. After the second fee of $11,900 is in, we can go to India within 6 months to bring her HOME! The prices and paperwork is enough to make any light hearted one faint. We believe God did a miracle in bringing Sova to us and we know He will do it again w/ this large task ahead of us. So that is the reason why I am so excited that I can not sleep. :)

Why India?

Why We went internationl:
For us it just made sense. We both have had India on our hearts since our yr. 2000 mission trips and we plan on eventually living there as missionaries. We love India, the people are so warm and beautiful. The country is so interesting.
Many people have shared their hopes that we adopt a child from the states, which makes sense...this is our country. There is a need for US adoptions but after researching adoption our eyes and hearts fell upon the countries where it is an actual crisis. We were able to watch a few adopton documentaries and have seen orphanges lined from wall to wall w/ cribs of lonely chidren- reaching for the camera man as he passed by. It is the norm to see orphans wandering the streets in many countries. Of course w/ millions of orphans the burden is overwhelming- I know it is a cliche but, it really does make a difference in the life of one child...wonder if it was you?

Our Adoption Story...how it all began

Over this past year Mike and I have been praying about adoption. I read a book about a family that adopted from Romania. Their description about what they saw...the desparation of the young children broke us. I have to repeat the story because this is how our adoption story began: An american college student was helping out at the orphange. Her first job was to keep a dozen three year old's seated on their little pottys for 15-20 minutes. Heather pulled out of her bag a tape player and began to sing along while 12 sets of little eyes stared in amazement. Bending down, she spoke the words to each child as she touched them and kissed each little face. As she moved slowly down the row, tiny hands began to reach out, aching for her anticipated touch. An orphanage worker burst into the room and had Heather stop the music and move the chilren on. The children who were waiting for their kiss and personal touch began to wail. She realized how much this small sign of affection meant to the children and she ignored the worker and continued on, embracing the children until each one had been touched.
I put the book down and thought about my own 3 year old. I pictured Jacob sitting there on his potty...arms reaching out, tears falling... all for one quick touch. After that book, everytime I rocked Caleb to sleep I would think...wonder if Caleb was one of the 210 million orphaned children...who would rock him to sleep? Needless to say, we started looking into adoption and never looked back!